MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN) -- Rosemary Heiss, a graduate
student at Alabama State University, has been awarded about
$30,000 in scholarships in the last four years -- because
she's white and Alabama State is predominantly black.

"It was a new idea for me, but then certainly when I found
out there was an opportunity to get a new cultural
experience, I jumped at the chance," she says. "I think it's
wonderful."

The white scholarship program at two predominantly black
Alabama public universities -- Alabama State and Alabama A&M
-- began in 1995. It was part of a federal desegregation
order covering Alabama's institutions of higher learning.

"The scholarship program was designed essentially as a jump-
start effort to get the process of desegregation under way,"
said Carlos Gonzalez, appointed as a special master in the
case by the federal court.

After determining that the two black colleges had been
subject to discrimination, the court ordered that each
receive $100 million to upgrade facilities and programs and
diversify their student bodies.

Not everybody is happy with the whites-only scholarship plan.
A black student is suing to overturn it, and a conservative
public interest law group, the Southeastern Legal Foundation,
also is critical.

Heiss, a graduate student who benefits from a
scholarship program for whites at predominantly black Alabama
State University

"When you have a 14th Amendment that guarantees equal
protection for everybody, you can't have government-sponsored
policies of exclusion," said Matt Glavin, head of the
foundation.

The legal challenge to the program may be decided within the
next several months. In the meantime, Alabama State President
William Harris is offering no apologies.

"The money that is available for white students to come for
scholarships does not come at the expense of black students,"
Harris said, noting that it is extra money sent directly by
the state.

The program seems to be working. White enrollment at Alabama
State has jumped from 7 percent to 10 percent in the last
four years.

The program is scheduled to end in six more years, at which
time officials hope that white students will no longer need
the incentive of financial aid to entice them to attend
Alabama State.